In an announcement to mark the 20th anniversary (has it been that many years already!?) of the original Mafia game, it has been confirmed that the fourth installment of the popular series is well into development, albeit still a couple of years away.
Fans of the series have been wondering about the current state of the franchise and any future installments for a few years, after complete radio silence from the studios involved, but thankfully, that has now changed and it won’t be too long before we’re booting up the next installment.
The Mafia Trilogy
For those uninitiated few that haven’t ever played a Mafia game, if you take Grand Theft Auto and add a story involving mafia families, betrayal, loyalty, and more, you’ll get what Mafia is. Of course, that’s an incredible oversimplification of the game series, which has garnered critics and fan praise alike with its three installments over the last twenty years.
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Mafia 3 is the most recent installment currently available, which was released in 2016 and saw a slight departure from the early 20th century, stereotypical Italian gangster story to one of a returning Vietnam vet determined to get revenge for his adoptive family, murdered by mobsters.
All three games have also been remastered and released as a collection, allowing new and old players alike of the series another bite of the cherry, but fans have been clamoring for a new entry for a while.
Mafia 4
Speaking in an interview to mark the original’s 20th anniversary, general manager Roman Hladik of Hangar 13, the 2K-owned developer had this to say.
“I’m happy to confirm we’ve started work on an all-new Mafia project! While it’s a few years away and we can’t share anything more right now, we’re really excited to keep working on this beloved franchise and to entertain our players with new stories.”
In May of this year, rumors spread that a new Mafia game was in development, which has now been proven true. Those rumors also said that the new game would be developed in the new and expansive Unreal Engine 5, which has been surprisingly underutilized on the new generation of consoles so far. Offering far more power, processing ability, and graphics unseen before, if this rumor is true, it’d be exciting to see how the team at Hangar 13 will use it to craft their world.
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Nothing else is known at this point, which isn’t surprising considering the early development of the game, and that includes potential stories or the period in which it’s set. As mentioned, Mafia 3 was set in the late 1960s, a stark departure from the early 1930’s adventure of the first game. Whilst time hopping isn’t an issue, many fans would hope the series will go back to its roots and occur during the prohibition era.
What happens is anyone’s guess, but it’s undeniable the news is exciting to fans of the series, so hold this space and wait for what could be one of the better games of the current generation of gaming.
Source: PCGamer
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